Bookshelf

In Insectopedia, Hugh Raffles, D.F.E.S. ’99, probes the vast insect world from A to Z. It is loaded with facts—some profound, others curious and still others uproariously funny. The book is also part personal memoir, part scientific detective story and part cultural study. He travels the Amazon, visits Chernobyl and enters laboratories and sidewalk cafes in search of insects and the ideas and cultures they inspire. Insects stir eerie fascination: they are beautiful, disgusting, important and annoying. To some they are tasty. To others they are a source of sexual fetish. Insects become windows into our culture, science, health—even our psyche. The more we learn of insects, the more we come to face—and sometimes even challenge—our own views of the world. The book is published by Pantheon. To purchase a copy, visit www.amazon.com or www.indiebound.com to locate an independent bookseller.

In Forests in Time: The Environmental Consequences of 1,000 Years of Change in New England, co-editor John Aber ’73, Ph.D. ’76 relates the history of natural and human-induced changes that have occurred in the past 1,000 years in New England and explores the modern ecology of this largely forested landscape. Written by leading biological, physical and social scientists, the book demonstrates that an understanding of landscape history is essential for the study of ecology and environmental management. Co-edited by David Foster, the book was published by Yale University Press in March 2004. To purchase the book, visit www.amazon.com.

In Companions in Wonder: Children and Adults Exploring Nature Together, co-editors Stephen Kellert, Ph.D. ’71, Tweedy Ordway Professor Emeritus of Social Ecology, and Julie Dunlap, Ph.D. ’87, present an anthology of personal essays recounting adventures great and small with children in the natural world. The authors—parents, teachers, mentors and former children—describe experiences that range from bird watching to an encounter with an apple butter-loving grizzly bear. Rick Bass captures fireflies with his children and reflects on fatherhood; Michael Branch observes wryly that both gardening and parenting are "disciplines of sustainability;" Lauret Savoy wonders how African American children can connect to the land after generations of estrangement; and Sandra Steingraber has "the big talk" with her children—not about sex, but about global warming. By turns lyrical, comic and earnest, these writings guide us to closer connections with nature and with the children in our lives, for the good of the planet and our own spiritual and physical well-being. The book, published by MIT Press, is available at amazon.com.

In her memoir Shadow Mountain, Renee Askins’88 recounts her courageous 15-year campaign to restore wolves to Yellowstone National Park. As head of the grassroots Wolf Fund, she fought Western ranchers and their political allies in Washington, received death threats and endured the anguish of illegal wolf killings to restore wolves to Yellowstone. The book is published by Anchor Books.

In America the Possible: Manifesto for a New Economy, James Gustave Speth, former F&ES Dean and professor of law at Vermont Law School, shows that America is plagued by ill health, a ravaged natural environment, conflict over scarce resources, destruction of the social fabric, ignorance, poverty and frequent war. He demands that Americans reconsider their most cherished assumptions—starting with the idea that economic growth is always good—and participate in the overhaul of the country’s political and economic systems to renew America. America the Possible is published by Yale University Press (http://yalepress.yale.edu/yupbooks).

In Energizing Sustainable Cities: Assessing Urban Energy, Arnulf Grubler, professor in the field of energy and technology at F&ES, co-edits a book inspired by a major international effort to conduct the first comprehensive assessment of energy-related urban sustainability under the auspices of the Global Energy Assessment. The assessment is unique in that it embeds energy issues into the broader sustainability agenda of cities, including housing for the poor and functional transport systems, as well as environmental quality and challenges imposed by climate change. The chapters are written by internationally renowned scholars, and major development and sustainability challenges of cities are assessed in detail. Energizing Sustainable Cities is published by Earthscan and will be available in November 2012 (http://www.publish.csiro.au/pid/7031.htm).

In When America First Met China: An Exotic History of Tea, Drugs, and Money in the Age of Sail, Eric Jay Dolin ’88 traces America’s relationship with China back to this country’s roots—the unforgiving 19th-century seas that separated a brash, rising naval power from a battered ancient empire. The furious trade in furs, opium and bêche-de-mer—a rare sea cucumber delicacy—might have catalyzed America’s emerging economy, but it also sparked an ecological and human rights catastrophe of epic proportions. The book, published by W. W. Norton imprint Liveright, offers up a saga of pirates, politicians, coolies and concubines, and will remind readers of Nathaniel Philbrick’s Mayflower and Mark Kurlansky's Cod.

In Moonbird: A Year on the Wind with the Great Survivor B95, Phillip Hoose, M.F.S. ‘77, takes children around the hemisphere with the world’s most celebrated shorebird. He explores the tragedy of extinction through the triumph of a single bird, B95, a robin-sized shorebird and a red knot of the subspecies rufa. Each February he joins a flock that lifts off from Tierra del Fuego, headed for breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic, 9,000 miles away. Late in the summer, he begins the return journey. Scientists call him the Moonbird because, in the course of his astoundingly long lifetime, this gritty, four-ounce bird has flown the distance to the moon and halfway back. Since 1995, however, when B95 was first captured and banded, the worldwide rufa population has collapsed by nearly 80 percent. Hoose introduces readers, though, to a worldwide team of scientists and conservationists trying to save them, and explains what we can do to help before it’s too late. The book is published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

In Managing Forest Carbon in a Changing Climate, F&ES researchers offer a comprehensive review of the science of carbon sequestration in forests, management of forests for carbon mitigation and poverty alleviation, and the socioeconomic and policy implications of managing forests for carbon. The book is organized in four parts: the science of carbon sequestration in forests; science of measuring carbon in forests; management of forests and forest products for carbon storage; and socioeconomic, business and policy aspects of managing forests for carbon. The goal of the book is to provide recommendations for graduate students, land managers and policymakers on vital areas that need research and guidelines for forest carbon management and policy, and grew out of a series of seminars that were organized by faulty, students and alumni of the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies. The book is published by Springer. More information.

In Reigning the River, Anne Rademacher, MESc. ’99, Ph.D. ’05, illuminates the complexities of river restoration in Kathmandu—Nepal’s capital and one of the fastest-growing cities in South Asia. She examines how the competing visions of bureaucrats in state and conservation-development agencies, cultural heritage activists and advocates for the security of tens of thousands rural-to-urban migrants settled along the exposed riverbed affected urban river improvement. As clashes between Maoist revolutionaries and the Nepal government intensified, the river functioned as a last refuge from war-related violence. The book is published by Duke University Press.

In The Young Activist’s Guide to Building a Green Movement and Changing the World, Sharon Smith ’12 chronicles the rising role and importance of youth organizing and participation in the environmental movement by profiling 30 organizers under the age of 23 involved in a myriad of activities, from passing legislation, to founding nonprofits, to raising millions of dollars for sustainability efforts. Smith goes on to outline a series of best practices for would-be youth activists, and focuses on groups and campaigns involved in climate change and clean energy—issues increasingly claimed by Millennials as the defining environmental concerns of their generation. The book is published by Ten Speed Press.

In Restoring Degraded Landscapes with Native Species in Latin America, co-editors Florencia Montagnini, professor in the practice of tropical forestry, and Christopher Finney argue that sustainable forestry, including plantations of native tree species, mixed-species plantations, agroforestry and enrichment plantings, can provide a wide range of ecosystem services, such as erosion control, reduction of invasive species, watershed protection, habitat connectivity, biodiversity and carbon sequestration, as well as economic benefits from timber, fuel wood, fruit, fodder, honey and other products. The book is published by Nova Science Publishers.

In Agroforestry as a Tool for Landscape Restoration, Florencia Montagnini, professor in the practice of tropical forestry, and co-editors Wendy Francesconi and Esteban Rossi have compiled articles from the Second World Agroforestry Congress in 2009. The book is comprised of five sections and 14 chapters, and the articles provide an overview of recent efforts to apply agroforestry technologies to landscape restoration in degraded lands located in tropical and temperate regions worldwide. The book is for academics, practitioners and policy makers. The book is published by Nova Science Publishers.

In Islands of Time, Philip Conkling ’76 teams up with photographer Peter Ralston, co-founders of the Island Institute, to chronicle the natural and cultural history of Maine’s 5,000 islands. They provide exciting accounts of their travels among Maine’s 5,000 islands and 5,300 miles of coastline. This edition focuses on the relationships they have forged with islanders and fishermen in these remote communities who are an essential part of Maine’s heritage. The book is published by the Island Institute.

In Journey of the Universe, authors Mary Evelyn Tucker, co-director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale, and evolutionary philosopher Brian Swimme tell the epic story of the universe by weaving the findings of modern science with enduring wisdom found in the humanistic traditions of the West, Asia and indigenous peoples. The authors explore cosmic evolution as a wondrous process based on creativity, connection and interdependence, and they envision and unprecedented opportunity for the world’s people to address the daunting ecological and social challenges of our time. The book is published by Yale University Press.

In Early Flowers and Angiosperm Evolution, F&ES Dean Peter Crane writes about the discovery of tiny flowers from the Cretaceous Period (144 million to 165 million years ago) that has revealed astonishing and unexpected details about the earliest flowers. The book, co-authored with Else Friis and Kaj Pedersen, is a breakthrough in the study of the evolutionary history of flowering plants from their earliest phases in obscurity to their dominance in modern vegetation. The rich record of exquisitely preserved flowers and floral organs have provided detailed information on the structural and systematic diversity of early angiosperms and have enabled a breakthrough in the study of early angiosperm diversification. The book is published by Cambridge University Press.

In The Very Hungry City. Austin Troy ’95 explains how cities with a high “urban energy metabolism”—that is, the need for a lot of energy to function—is at a competitive disadvantage. He looked at dozens of cities and suburbs in Europe and the United States—from Los Angeles to Copenhagen—to understand the diverse factors that affect their energy use. He then assessed some of the most imaginative solutions that cities have proposed, among them green building, energy-efficient neighborhoods, symbiotic infrastructure, congestion pricing, transit-oriented development and water conservation. The book is published by Yale University Press.

In The Sportsman’s Voice: Hunting and Fishing in America, Mark Duda ’85 provides a comprehensive look at hunting and fishing in America. Nearly 34 million Americans ages 16 and older hunt and fish every year. Through license fees and excise taxes on equipment, hunters and anglers are responsible for the majority of fish and wildlife conservation funding in the United States, including the conservation of millions of acres of habitat that have saved the wild turkey, wood duck, bald eagle and pronghorn antelope. Understanding both sports, therefore, is vital to managing the nation’s natural resources effectively. The book is published by Venture Publishing.